Groton --- As the historic submarine USS Nautilus made its way upriver sporting a fresh coat of paint after a $4.7 million, four-month refurbishing at Electric Boat, about 150 submarine veterans lined the pier at the Submarine Force Library and Museum to honor its passing.

At 2:30 p.m., the shouted command, "Sub vets, hand salute!" brought the veterans' arms up as tugs pushed the Nautilus --- the world's first nuclear-powered submarine --- toward the Naval Submarine Base, where it will be readied to be rebolted to the pier at the museum later this month.

"It's the first time I've seen her under way since April '86, when she came back from the West Coast," said John Yuill of Cumberland, R.I., who was a quartermaster on Nautilus from April 1957 until September 1960. "It was sad seeing her under tow, knowing she couldn't get under way on her own power, but it was great just to see her on the water."

The retired submariners were in town for the 38th anniversary celebration of the Groton chapter of U.S. Submarine Veterans Inc., which included a trip back to Naval Submarine School. It was Robert "Soupy" Campbell's first trip to the school, even though he made three war patrols on the Pilotfish in the 1940s.

"They needed some good men, like the Marine Corps, so they sent me right to Midway," Campbell joked. As the submarine force grew rapidly during World War II and again during the early days of the Cold War, some men reported right to the boats out of basic training.

And what was so important that Campbell had to miss sub school during World War II?

"Dishes," Campbell said. "They didn't have automatic dishwashers back then, so I spent my first two patrols as a mess cook washing dishes." Eventually, he qualified as an electrician's mate and was relieved of dish duty.

Campbell was made an honorary graduate with distinction of the Basic Enlisted Submarine School class that graduated Friday morning.

John Carcioppolo, commander of the Groton base, said some of the people attending the events this weekend think he's a genius for organizing the movement of the Nautilus at the same time as the anniversary celebration, though he acknowledged it was just a happy coincidence.

For a short time Friday, it appeared that it might not happen, though, because stiff winds threatened to make it difficult to get the Nautilus out of drydock at EB and tow it to the base. As the appointed time passed, one retired submariner quipped that maybe the ship had gotten lost.

Carcioppolo said Cmdr. D. Benton Howard, officer in charge of the museum, didn't want to disappoint the waiting veterans if at all possible.

"Commander Howard and the other powers that be got things turned around, and they're doing it," Carcioppolo said moments before the Nautilus hove into view.

Carcioppolo said he wasn't surprised that so many of the veterans turned out to see the Nautilus after spending the entire morning touring sub school.

"This is a big part of our heritage," Carcioppolo said.

"Progress. It means progress," said Charlie Sutton of Milford as he watched the Nautilus pass. "It means no more running on the surface to charge batteries. Today, they only surface to re-enlist."

Sutton qualified in 1950 on the diesel-electric submarine Torsk, now a museum ship in Baltimore.

Russell Perreault of Rhode Island, who qualified in submarines aboard the John Adams in 1963 and made six patrols on the boat, said nuclear power made possible the entire concept of ballistic-missile submarines like the John Adams, which submerged for 60 days at a time.

"Before nuclear power, submarines were basically surface ships that could submerge," Yuill said. "With nuclear power, we could make our own air and water. Nuclear power enabled us to stay submerged until the food ran out."

Yuill recalled that when he first reported to the Nautilus, "it looked like a rocket ship, everything was so modern."

The Nautilus shattered all underwater speed and endurance records during its era and logged an estimated 500,000 miles during a 25-year career.

As part of his tour of the Submarine School, Yuill got to see renderings of the next-generation Virginia class of submarines under construction at EB.

"Today the Nautilus is the Model T of nuclear subs," Yuill said. "But the Nautilus started it all."